2D drawing software is hard enough to use; usually when you think of 3D the word “impossible” comes to mind. But SketchUp, now available from Google in both a commercial and powerful free version, is different. It’s easy enough for non-illustrators to use for creating accurate DIY designs with dimensions, whether you’re working on DIY […]

Novation is hoping you’ll bring their new Xiosynth mini-synth keyboard home, and to help give you an additional push, they’ve got a new online sampler keyboard plus lessons for learning synthesis techniques. Have a listen to the patches on the Xiosynth with the Flash player below; try the z, x, and c keys on your […]

Cakewalk has a major upgrade to their flagship audio software, SONAR, not very long after the release of SONAR 5 last year: Cakewalk SONAR 6 Producer Edition: New Feature Highlights [Cakewalk.com] The banner feature is a new “audio quantize” feature. All the major DAWs have been toying with various takes on beat-synced audio warping, not […]

Via General Specialist, we’ve learned that you can get a full copy of the Poser 5 3D modeling / figure posing and animation tool for Windows and Mac. Hurry, as the offer ends tomorrow (Friday September 9): Free Poser 5 Offer I just picked up my free copy and have some details on how to […]

Adding to the flood of new computer audio interfaces this summer is the Mbox 2 Pro from Digidesign, filling a gap left long ago by the old Digi 001. If you need some extra channels for Pro Tools LE and the M-Audio interfaces leave you cold, this could be a good choice, though I’d take […]

Laptops as bio-hazard? Dust problems in the desert? Just stick them in a miniature “clean room” environment. Chris Martinez of effect69 writes us with details: Worried about dust and dirt? PowerBook got an alien plague? This should help. Burning Man 2006: Hope & Fear the Future When we were asked to play on the playa, […]

Legendary composer Wendy Carlos remembers Bob Moog in a moving set of recollections, music, and documents, including the music and thoughts she shared in a gathering in North Carolina shortly after his death last year. She goes far beyond Switched on Bach to talk about a long relationship with the instruments and their creator in […]

SM Pro has released a “passive summing mixer” that mixes eight analog audio channels to two. The idea is that digital summing, as performed in software, will cancel certain sound components and result in a less detailed mix after mixdown. The PM8 passive summing mixer does this for you in the analog domain, theoretically resulting […]

Freeframe, that great open-source video effects plugin system for your favourite VJ app or NLE (and championed by developers from VJamm and Resolume) now comes in a new flavour: After Effects! BigFug (an active FreeFrame plugin developer) has released a beta of the After Effects Freeframe Host. It’s, well, free while in beta. The full […]

Freeframe, that great open-source video effects plugin system for your favourite VJ app or NLE (and championed by developers from VJamm and Resolume) now comes in a new flavour: After Effects! BigFug (an active FreeFrame plugin developer) has released a beta of the After Effects Freeframe Host. It’s, well, free while in beta. The full […]